Burial Information

Cemetery: VIMY MEMORIAL

Pas de Calais, France

Grave Reference: N/A

Location: Canada's most impressive tribute overseas to those Canadians who fought and gave their lives in the First World War is the majestic and inspiring Vimy Memorial, which overlooks the Douai Plain from the highest point of Vimy Ridge, about eight kilometres northeast of Arras on the N17 towards Lens. The Memorial is signposted from this road to the left, just before you enter the village of Vimy from the south. The memorial itself is someway inside the memorial park, but again it is well signposted. At the base of the memorial, these words appear in French and in English: TO THE VALOUR OF THEIR COUNTRYMEN IN THE GREAT WAR AND IN MEMORY OF THEIR SIXTY THOUSAND DEAD THIS MONUMENT IS RAISED BY THE PEOPLE OF CANADA

Inscribed on the ramparts of the Vimy Memorial are the names of over 11,000 Canadian soldiers who were posted as 'missing, presumed dead' in France. A plaque at the entrance to the memorial states that the land for the battlefield park, 91.18 hectares in extent, was 'the free gift in perpetuity of the French nation to the people of Canada'. Construction of the massive work began in 1925, and 11 years later, on July 26, 1936, the monument was unveiled by King Edward VIII. The park surrounding the Vimy Memorial was created by horticultural experts. Canadian trees and shrubs were planted in great masses to resemble the woods and forests of Canada. Wooded parklands surround the grassy slopes of the approaches around the Vimy Memorial. Trenches and tunnels have been restored and preserved and the visitor can picture the magnitude of the task that faced the Canadian Corps on that distant dawn when history was made. On April 3, 2003, the Government of Canada designated April 9th of each year as a national day of remembrance of the Battle of Vimy Ridge.

Information courtesy of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

55th & 75th Battalion 11th Infantry Brigade 4th Division Central Ontario Regiment

Personal Information: Sherwood Marshall Wood was born in Smiths Falls, Ontario on July 21, 1891. Wood was an active member in the community participating in many school sports and town hockey leagues. He lived with his parents and worked as a banker at the Union Bank but was transferred to work at a bank in Toronto.

Wood was recruited on February 9, 1916 at the Belleville Recruitment Centre. He was 24 years 8 months old when this young bachelor signed up voluntarily. It was possible he was visiting his sister when he signed up, seeing how she was the only relative of his living in Belleville and his Attestation Papers indicated he signed up in Belleville.

Mrs. Mildred Wood, Wood's sister, lived on 27 Turnbull St. Belleville, Ontario. Sherwood Marshall Wood was five-and-a-half feet tall, weighing 135 pounds. He became a soldier of the 55th and then joined the 75th Battalion of the Canadian Infantry in the Central Ontario Regiment.

Military Movements: The journey was about to begin. Wood and his fellow soldiers were on a trip of a lifetime. He arrived in England on the morning of May 29, 1916. On June 25, 1916 Sherwood Marshall Wood were taken on strength by the 75th Battalion as they were suffering many casualties. The 75th Battalion embarked for France on August 11, 1916. Interestingly enough, this is three days after Stanley Martin embarked for France with the 75th Battalion. It is possible that Wood and Stanley Martin, both with the 75th Battalion and both from Smiths Falls were in constant contact with each other overseas.

When he arrived in France, Sherwood Marshall Wood moved to the Somme area of war on the 25th of August where he would fight until his death on November 18, 1916.

Medical Records: Sherwood Marshall Wood was reported wounded once before his death as he received treatment for shell shock on September 4, 1916. He was treated in the infirmary and released for the duty the same day. Wood remained on active duty until he was fatally wounded on the front line, the Somme Battle area on November 18, 1916 (Archives).

The Final Days: Sherwood Marshall Wood and his fellow soldiers fought with the 75th Battalion. Early on the morning of November 18, 1916 Sherwood Marshall Wood was killed on the front line in the area of the Battle of the Somme. From mid-September to November 1916, the 4th Canadian Division, particularly the 10th and 11th Infantry Brigades, would bear the brunt of the German assaults around the now infamous Regina trench. Battalion records reveal that repeated Canadian assaults on the Regina trench by the 11th Brigade were met "with intense enfilading machine-gun fire... with a hail of bullets mowing great gaps in their (CDN) ranks, the attacking troops soon coming under a deluge of sharpnel and high explosives." (Nicholson, pg. 191).

Those in the lines not killed outright sought protection from shell holes until darkness when they would crawl back to their lines.

It was reported that Sherwood Marshall Wood was shot and died shortly after on the field during one of these assaults. No information was enclosed in the medical records to indicate where he is buried. It should be reported the casualties during this battle were horrendous. At one point the British lost over 56,000 men in three hours.

Lest We Forget: Sherwood Marshall Wood died at the young age of twenty-four. He was survived by his sister Miss Mildred Wood of Belleville and his father Donald Wood of Smiths Falls, Ontario and his brother. Sherwood Marshall Wood's father was given a plaque which has the serial #5594 as well as the Memorial Scroll #228436. The Memorial Cross #700943, the Victory Medal and the British War Medal. All of his medals were given to his brother (Archives).

Bibliography: Canadian Expeditionary Force, 1914-1919. Official History of the Canadian Army in the First World War by G.W.L. Nicholson.

Biography courtesy of the Lest We Forget remembrance initiative of the Smith Falls District Collegiate Institute. By Amanda Hewitt.